Fact Sheet
SOHO Detects Source of Solar Wind
Like grass growing through cracks in pavement, the solar wind flows from the edges of convections cells on the surface of the Sun, astronomers discovered recently using observations by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. Coronal holes had long been thought to be the source of the electrified gas that flows through the solar system at speeds up to two million miles an hour. A closer look (inset) at a coronal hole near the north solar pole shows the solar wind breaking though (in blue) at the edges of the honeycomb-shaped magnetic fields.
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